To Orihime, With Love
by Sip Fornicaras
Summary: Szayel Aporro sends Orihime a gift. implied Szayel/Orihime


**Warnings:** Contains potentially disturbing material.

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**To Orihime, With Love**

The door to her room suddenly burst open, eliciting a startled jump from Orihime. Ulquiorra had just left about half an hour ago, and Nnoitra had been gone for hours, so she had thought it would be safe to lose herself in her thoughts for a little while. Apparently she was wrong.

She wasn't left with much time to wonder about who it could be either, as her ears were soon met with loud greetings of "Orihime! Orihime!", shouted in unison by two voices that had become very familiar to her by now. Turning to face her visitors visually confirmed that it was Lumina and Verona, the roly poly fracción of Szayel Aporro. She had seen them both many times during her forced visits to his lab, but he had never sent them to her room before, especially not with... was that a gift one of them was holding?

"Um, is there something--," she started, but was interrupted by their enthusiastic shouting as they bounded toward her.

"Szayel Aporro-sama told us to bring you this!" Lumina held the gift up proudly, offering it to Orihime and bouncing in excitement. "Szayel Aporro-sama sent you a gift! A gift for Orihime!"

"A... gift?" Orihime muttered, more to herself than the two fracción as she accepted the white box from Lumina, staring down at it in a combination of concern and disbelief. It seemed surprisingly innocent and nice at first glance, pure white accented with a bright red ribbon, but looks could be misleading, and she had spent enough time with Szayel Aporro by now to know that the box likely didn't contain gourmet chocolates or a stuffed bear. Well, maybe the bear, if it had been made animate and given sharp teeth with which to bite her.

"Open it! Open it!" The two rotund arrancar encouraged cheerfully, anxiously awaiting her reaction to their master's most generous gesture.

"Okay..." Not wanting to hold onto the box as it was opened for fear of what it may contain, she sat down on the floor, gently placing it in front of her. Tentatively, she reached out with one hand and carefully untied the ribbon, tipping the lid off with one finger as the ribbon fell to the floor.

The anticipation was heavy. At first she stayed back, worried that something might come bursting out to harm her, but when nothing did, she exhaled her held breath and leaned forward to take a peek inside. The second she saw the box's contents, she immediately regretted ever opening it. Her eyes widened in horror as they were met with the sight of a bloody human heart dressed in pink ribbon tied neatly in a bow. After a brief moment of remaining frozen in shock, she recoiled as if she'd been punched in the face, while the two fracción cheered in oblivious delight.

Orihime couldn't stop herself from shuddering as her eyes began to well with tears. She hadn't expected anything from him to be kind or wonderful, but she hadn't been prepared for something like this. Who had he mutilated just for the sake of amusing himself with this? Whose life had he destroyed? There had been a slip of paper placed inside the box as well. Should she read it? She wasn't sure she could stand knowing what he may have written to accompany a 'gift' like this, nor having to actually reach in to retrieve his note, but not knowing was almost as bad.

She tried her best not to focus on the bloody organ as she leaned forward again, reaching into the box with only a slight whimper to quickly snatch the slip of paper. Carefully, she unfolded the Octava's message to her, trying to avoid touching the droplets of crimson that speckled it. Written in what was potentially the most elegant penmanship she had ever seen, the note read:

_Miss Inoue,__  
The Quincy, that is, Ishida Uryuu, sends you affections and best wishes with all of his heart.  
__Fond regards,  
Szayel Aporro_

The tears that had welled in her eyes now streamed down her cheeks in torrents, drops falling onto the paper she held so tightly as she tried in vain to choke back a sob. Satisfied with the reception of their master's present, Lumina and Verona bounded away, back to the Octava's domain. As the door closed behind them her strength faded, and the room was soon filled with Orihime's cries of anguish.

In stark contrast, Szayel Aporro's room was filled with the sounds of his own maniacal laughter.


End file.
